New Technology, Countergrav (RAR!)

[Zor]

This is an idea that has been floating around in my mind.

In the next couple of years, some breakthrough in Physics, leads some scientist to develop an groundbreaking new device called the countergravity generator. Each device is a disc shapped affair that if charged creates a negative gravitational field that repells it away from sizable gravity wells (in our case, earth).

There are several notable features of this technology though...

-It does not take to much retooling of existing industries countergravity system and any nation as advanced and more advanced that the People's Republic of China
-The smallest they can get a countergravity Generator of worth is about 4 meters across, one meter high and massing in about a hundred tonnes, and is able to lift up 3,000 tonnes to maximum altitutude and get up to 6,000 tonnes. Larger Generators can lift more roughly proportionatly.
-Countergravity systems don't have much in the line of moving parts and can stay in contious use for several years if they have proper cooling systems
-There is a hard limit on how high they can repulse away from the earth's surface, which is about 20 kilometers and is proportionatly
-Countergrav coils need electric power to work, a small one requiring at least 50 kilowatts to fuction, with.

What would be the practical civilian and military applications of such a technology?

Zor

[Ender]

I don't know what you mean by "able to lift up 3,000 tonnes to maximum altitutude and get up to 6,000 tonnes. ". Is the max mass at the max altitude 3000 tons or 6000 tons?

But running with 3000 tons, this means we can exert a force that attenuates at the rate 1/n^4, with a strength at 20 km of 30 million newtons. The n^4 bit is because they must be there to interact, that means that whatever the contragrav is sending out must bounce off something, otherwise it would just attenuate at n^2 and function like a regular engine.

So basically, we have shields for anything we can mount this on. That's about it, because you are also going to have to pay in the difference in gravitational potential energy, which for your 3000 tons at 20 km will be about 200 terajoules. So this thing will have to be a VERY slow lift.

[Zor]

I don't know what you mean by "able to lift up 3,000 tonnes to maximum altitutude and get up to 6,000 tonnes. ". Is the max mass at the max altitude 3000 tons or 6000 tons?

By which i meant it can get up to 6,000 tonnes a single kilometer in the air.

Zor

[Ender]

I don't know what you mean by "able to lift up 3,000 tonnes to maximum altitutude and get up to 6,000 tonnes. ". Is the max mass at the max altitude 3000 tons or 6000 tons?

By which i meant it can get up to 6,000 tonnes a single kilometer in the air.

Zor

You said 20 km as well, which is it?

[Zor]

I don't know what you mean by "able to lift up 3,000 tonnes to maximum altitutude and get up to 6,000 tonnes. ". Is the max mass at the max altitude 3000 tons or 6000 tons?

By which i meant it can get up to 6,000 tonnes a single kilometer in the air.

Zor

You said 20 km as well, which is it?

3,000-20KM, apsolute limit of how Countergravs can go up

6,000-1 KM, general minimum altitude, dropping sharply after that and 6,003 tonnes and it does not get off the ground.

Zor

[Enigma]

Project Bolo goes full steam ahead.

[Pelranius]

This makes air transportation very interesting if there is a weigh to propel these platforms? What I mean is that can the countergrav tech be used to propel these platforms by itself or does one need to attach rockets to move them about?

[Zor]

This makes air transportation very interesting if there is a weigh to propel these platforms? What I mean is that can the countergrav tech be used to propel these platforms by itself or does one need to attach rockets to move them about?

Countergrav is like an elevator, two directions, up and down. If you build a countergrav freighter, it needs some form of propulsion, such as a jet engines.

Zor

[JointStrikeFighter]

This makes air transportation very interesting if there is a weigh to propel these platforms? What I mean is that can the countergrav tech be used to propel these platforms by itself or does one need to attach rockets to move them about?

Countergrav is like an elevator, two directions, up and down. If you build a countergrav freighter, it needs some form of propulsion, such as a jet engines.

Zor

The craft could be shaped to move forward when descending, using the contragrav to rise back up again when it reaches the bottom of its glide.

[Nyrath]

Military applications? It seems to me that the ability to drop 3,000 to 6,000 tonne rocks from an altitude of 20 miles onto enemy cities does have some military applications.

[Joviwan]

If it repells away from earth's gravity well, or otherwise 'negates' it as I seem to think is implied by the OP, wouldn't it essentially 'move' on it's own once it lifted into the air, because of the earth's rotation? If it were counter-affecting gravity, it wouldn't be stationary relative to earth when it lifted.

[Solauren]

I think it's pretty obvious what you could use this for -
Low fuel aircraft come to mind (strap on of these onto an Jet fighter, and watch the hijinks)

Also, I can imagine that these could be nicely adapted for a ground-orbital launch system.

[Admiral Valdemar]

If it repells away from earth's gravity well, or otherwise 'negates' it as I seem to think is implied by the OP, wouldn't it essentially 'move' on it's own once it lifted into the air, because of the earth's rotation? If it were counter-affecting gravity, it wouldn't be stationary relative to earth when it lifted.

No, because you still have air resistance. Centrifugal cylinders for artificial gravity don't have gravitational force either, but a large chunk of their effect can come from pressurised atmosphere. The craft would likely be affected by atmospheric phenomena, depending on altitude and how the climate was at the time. It wouldn't be a fixed spot in space, as it were.

[Ender]

3,000-20KM, apsolute limit of how Countergravs can go up

6,000-1 KM, general minimum altitude, dropping sharply after that and 6,003 tonnes and it does not get off the ground.

Zor

My figures stand then.

Countergrav is like an elevator, two directions, up and down. If you build a countergrav freighter, it needs some form of propulsion, such as a jet engines.

Zor

Or angle it.

Military applications? It seems to me that the ability to drop 3,000 to 6,000 tonne rocks from an altitude of 20 miles onto enemy cities does have some military applications.

When it takes nuclear warhead level energy to get the rocks 20 km up; much less move it into position, you are much better off just dropping the nuclear warhead.

[Joviwan]

If it repells away from earth's gravity well, or otherwise 'negates' it as I seem to think is implied by the OP, wouldn't it essentially 'move' on it's own once it lifted into the air, because of the earth's rotation? If it were counter-affecting gravity, it wouldn't be stationary relative to earth when it lifted.

No, because you still have air resistance. Centrifugal cylinders for artificial gravity don't have gravitational force either, but a large chunk of their effect can come from pressurised atmosphere. The craft would likely be affected by atmospheric phenomena, depending on altitude and how the climate was at the time. It wouldn't be a fixed spot in space, as it were.

Ah, okay. Thanks

[Junghalli]

Also, I can imagine that these could be nicely adapted for a ground-orbital launch system.

I don't think so, since the object wouldn't be moving at orbital velocity. When it got beyond 20 km it would start to fall back. It could be used to reduce gravitational and atmospheric drag, but you'd still need to accelerate to orbital velocity once you got to the top. If you want to use it to launch stuff it would need a range of around 35,000 km (so it can just step out into GEO orbit).

Though I suppose you could build some sort of antigravity statite that would hover at 20 km and use them as sattelites.